Job 19:19

19:19 All my closest friends ¹  detest me;

and those whom ²  I love have turned against me. ³ 

Job 42:6

42:6 Therefore I despise myself, ⁴ 

and I repent in dust and ashes!

Psalms 88:8

88:8 You cause those who know me to keep their distance;

you make me an appalling sight to them.

I am trapped and cannot get free. ⁵ 

Zechariah 11:8

11:8 Next I eradicated the three shepherds in one month, ⁶  for I ran out of patience with them and, indeed, they detested me as well.

¹ tn Heb “men of my confidence,” or “men of my council,” i.e., intimate friends, confidants.

² tn The pronoun זֶה (zeh) functions here in the place of a nominative (see GKC 447 §138.h).

³ tn T. Penar translates this “turn away from me” (“Job 19,19 in the Light of Ben Sira 6,11,” Bib 48 [1967]: 293-95).

⁴ tn Or “despise what I said.” There is no object on the verb; Job could be despising himself or the things he said (see L. J. Kuyper, “Repentance of Job,” VT 9 [1959]: 91-94).

⁵ tn Heb “[I am] confined and I cannot go out.”

⁶ sn Zechariah is only dramatizing what God had done historically (see the note on the word “cedars” in 11:1). The “one month” probably means just any short period of time in which three kings ruled in succession. Likely candidates are Elah, Zimri, Tibni (1 Kgs 16:8-20); Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem (2 Kgs 15:8-16); or Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah (2 Kgs 24:1–25:7).